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City of Heroes

Since this is a pen and paper site we're all fans of REAL RPGs but i'm sure most of us have also played COH. I'd like people to use this thread to say what they like about pen and paper that makes it better than COH.
I'll start, I like the fact that REAL RPGs are more customizable. i can do a lot in my game that coh will never be able to do.

The biggest difference to me between something like CoH or any MMO is that the players can actually make a difference in the world. Problem with MMOs is you are catering to a large audience, instead of 6 people so the needs of the many as it were outweight the needs of the few or the 1.

Plus the interaction between GM and Players and just the Players themselves is much different in a PnP game than an MMO.

That's true for the most part, Skunk, but there are games out there that are rather episodic and don't mess much with the campaign world in which they are set. Personally, I think the biggest difference is that you can be involved in a much more engaging story. Based on my experiences with it, City of Heroes is pretty much a rinse-and-repeat, mission-grind, kill-bad-guys game with only a loose thread of story to keep it altogether. But, don't get me wrong. I enjoyed the game for what it was. It, like every other MMORPG, just doesn't fill the spot that pen and paper games do for me.

I want to make sure you know I'm not knocking MMOs, because I like them and have played them in the past, it's just the wash, rinse and repeat cycle that eventually ruins the experience for me! Oh and that I don't have much time for them currently!

Also, there's something about sitting around a table with a group of people and having face to face rping!

I didn't take you wrong. this isn't about bashing online games, my intention was to talk about why we really like pen and paper games. Personally I like both myself, and when i get through typing here I'm gonna play some COH.
Each type of game should be apreciated for what it is, to me and i suspect many others, computer games are just games, but REAL RPGs are actually an art form

MMO's (or any other computer/video game) are limited by the scope of what the programmers have designed to allow/disallow. If the programmers didn't think of it, it can't be done.

A pen-and-paper RPG is limited only by the imaginations of the players and GM. Want your character to be 18 feet tall with 3-foot long finger nails and fart a shower of grenades every time he eats pasta? Okay...you're a bit strange...but it can be done. Want to visit the obscure town across the mountains rumored to have a well that grants eternal life? Why not? Want to blackmail the local police chief with pictures of his "outings" to the motel across town? Go for it.

There always comes a point in a pre-programmed game when you come up with an idea which you feel should be totally plausible but which the game does not allow you to even attempt. Table top role playing does not have such boundaries and you are free to try to do anything you want (that doesn't necessarily mean you'll succeed ).

I didn't take you wrong. this isn't about bashing online games, my intention was to talk about why we really like pen and paper games. Personally I like both myself, and when i get through typing here I'm gonna play some COH.
Each type of game should be apreciated for what it is, to me and i suspect many others, computer games are just games, but REAL RPGs are actually an art form

My statement was to make sure Farcaster knew I wasn't knocking MMOs not you Crusader.

I think one of the greatest things about PnP games is that with the right group, all of you work towards telling a story, with an MMO, sure you can tell a story, but you're limited to what you can do by what the developers have programmed in. Not quite the same thing as a PnP game, but still can be fun!

coh won't run on my machine, so i can't give it very high marks. the reason i mark coh down instead of my machine, is because the coh site lists sys reqs that are well within my machines capability. yet it doesn't run. *shrug*

despite that, i retain my enthusiasm for the potential of what super hero games could become.

Actually, with the expansion soon to be released for CoH you'll have the ability to create your own battle scenarios, baddies for your heroes to fight (or vice versa) and invite friends to play your home brewed quests. If you can get around dealing with the other people playing you should be able to create a pretty good medium for a PnP LIKE MMO. (Where you have a GM who creates the maps, baddies, etc. puts a story behind it and lets his friends/victems go though it.)

I know I likely won't go through the trouble of running it, but a friend of mine who lives on the other side of the country is very excited about the prospect and is going to be giving it a shot. I'll let you guys know how it works out when the time comes (I think the exspansion won't but available for several months yet)

HERE HERE !!!
The mindless xp grinding sucks the life out of a game real quick. also i find the game much more enjoyable because it's more fun to here the G.M."s voice than to read enless lines of a story. i like beig able to interupt with questions and coments of my own.